Ah, so the shadows: the final end boss. The series needed an extra boost to quicken up the plot (after all, if it wasn’t for that, there would be nowhere near enough time for Otonashi’s adventures to make all of his friends disappear). It’s interesting to see that Key intended the finale of this series to be a thriller.

There were a few things that were a bit wrong about this episode, but that’s just nitpicking. It mostly had to do with the sudden stupidity of some of the characters: why did Otonashi not notice that Kanade was just a regular player? Also, why was Yurippe the only one who understood that Ooyama became an NPC?

But yeah, it’s an interesting thought: what if all of the NPCs were once these wandering spirits themselves, who failed to pass on? That really was the thing necessary to give the entire cast a good reason to think about where they wanted to go.

But someone actually created them. What’s up with that? My guess is that it’s Matsushita. I mean, he’s just gone. Ever since he left for the mountains, he’s just nowhere to be found.

Now, it really takes skill to make him the final villain without any hints prior to that. He could indeed be hiding things like most others, but as a teenager’s spirit who is so confused… does that really make him that good of an actor? Also, he’d better have some damn good motivations to do that. The last time someone tried to kill the cast it resulted into some guy with a god-complex who just slaughtered everyone and just got cured by a big hug.Rating: * (Good)

10 Responses

Ooyama? You mean Takamatsu, right? It is a bit sad that they’re ending this show this way though. I really wanted to know the past of the other characters.

About Otonashi not noticing Kanade being a human, I think it’s plausible. I mean, he was surrounded by people who keep calling her ‘Angel’… and I completely forgot that Kanade had mentioned that she was a human in the first episode. I watched the first episode 2 weeks ago.

I think that they just totally forgot to add Matsushita into this episode. In the preview for the next episode at the end of this one you can hear Akira Ishida saying “You’ve done well to come this far,” or something like that. I’m guessing that’s the bad guy, but who knows.

If this show had a setting that would allow it then it could have maybe been a 26 episode show where it focused on each of the characters and their troubled pasts. It feels like they wanted to go for that, later on, after the angel debacle but were limited by time and by the setting.

@ VK how can you tell from one line jumbled up with other voices that it was Akira Ishida? :-o

Yeah, I wish they made Angel Beats a 24-episode anime instead. I just read some parts of the novel where Hinata meets Yuri (and Ooyama X3) and it would have been swell if that was animated. After reading it, some scenes actually make more sense… (like the nickname Yurippe)

From the title of the next episode, I really hope that they will show this flashback. (they’re going to severely cut the Ooyama scenes anyway. *sob*)

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Bam

(Wednesday, Mar 4. 2015 12:44 AM)

@Ebod: while it would definitely be ideal if a Japanese actress like Yukie Nakama or Keiko Kitagawa played the role of major Kusanagi, Hollywood practices make it very improbable. So the options left are either Asian actresses that are known in Hollywood such as Rinko Kikuchi, or American actresses of Asain decent like Natalie Mendoza or Grace Huang.

Ebod

(Tuesday, Mar 3. 2015 08:22 PM)

V for Vendetta for me has always been a more “literary” work than Watchmen, but Watchmen is spectacular because it’s a story that can only be told in full scope in the comic format. While I feel like many major themes and events from V for Vendetta could easily be adapted into, say, novel format, the same could not be said of Watchmen.
Also, the racist whitewashing Hollywood does of Asian characters really has to stop.

Bam

(Tuesday, Mar 3. 2015 06:30 AM)

Watchmen was deemed ‘unadaptable’ for about thirty years, so just getting what Snyder got out of the material is a huge success; it is said that what he did was to write a book version of Ingmar’s Holy Mountain. Watchmen is the only graphic novel to ever win a Hugo award and is easily the most intricate and multilayered Alan Moore comic, so it’s no surprise that it continues to top ‘best comics of all time’ charts to this day.

Bam

(Tuesday, Mar 3. 2015 06:20 AM)

I beg to differ. Doctor Manhatten is the most intriguing character of Watchmen and the comic is a giant in ,not only in the comic world, but the history of literature itself. It is a deconstruction of superheros and Dr. M shows how afraid the world would really be when faced with a ‘superman’ and how a creature in such a higher realm of time and perception would show apathy toward humans and their foolish struggles.

Bam

(Tuesday, Mar 3. 2015 06:15 AM)

GitS just won’t work. Maybe in a world before the Matrix, but not now with so many elements of it borrowed liberally by so many franchises in various mediums. Scarlet Johansson is decent in roles that fit her. She was enjoyable in Lost In Translation, but race aside she has nothing in common with Kusanagi. This is a travesty and the franchise is dear to me so it especially burns my ass.

Emma

(Tuesday, Mar 3. 2015 06:10 AM)

While I am no fan of man of steel, Nolan and Snyder, just about anyone would have a hard time taking a difficult character like superman and making him work on screen.

Emma

(Tuesday, Mar 3. 2015 06:08 AM)

Apart from Veidt and Rorshach I could never get into the characters all that much in watchmen. I also found the film overly long and mediocre acted for the larger part. But to each there own. For Alan moores works I always preferred his Miracleman, swamp thing, V for Vendetta stories.

Bam

(Tuesday, Mar 3. 2015 06:06 AM)

Nolan can produce the action plus personal and dark story that Alita would need, and he also brings talent such as composer Hans Zimmer and Cinematographer Sally Pfister to the table. Him and Snyder have too much combined integrity to make a mockery out of Alita like Spielberg did with the GitS license.

Bam

(Tuesday, Mar 3. 2015 06:03 AM)

Well Snyder has respect for his source materials and that is key in anime-to-film adaptations. Hell I’m a big Watchmen fan and I thought his version was (almost painfully) close to the comic. You’re not going to get that anywhere else in Hollywood. Also the combination of Nolan/Snyder is quite different than them individually.

Emma

(Tuesday, Mar 3. 2015 05:34 AM)

And directed it as a co-production with America, using a Japanese cast.
Yeah…this is impossible…

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